An amusing survival shooter with a twist, Minigore packs in a distinct isometric 3D style, hilarious furry creatures, and an intelligent design. The early beta that I played convinced me that Minigore is shaping into one of the coolest survival shooters on the iPhone.

Developed by a Finnish developer Mountain Sheep and advertised under the Chillingo publishing moniker, Minigore is pitched with a fitting “Tiny creatures, giant adventure” tagline. The game files as a 3D survival shooter with funny species. If you’ve played games like iDracula, you’ll feel right at home with Minigore.

You are John Gore, a funny little square fellow who finds himself lost in a strange place called the Hardlan that’s filled with furries, hairy black creatures with particularly sharp teeth. They com after you in waves so you better move constantly, frenetically shooting little bastards with your machine gun. So far so good. Having extensively played several beta versions of Minigore, I should point out several interesting design choices that elevate the game high above other survival shooters.

Simple controls

Movement and shooting controls are separated into blue and red circles positioned in the lower left and right sides of the screen, respectively. Such configuration allows you to move and shot using only your left and right thumb. If you find the semi-transparent pads distracting, you can hide them in the game’s settings.

At first, you might find the controls too sensitive or too slow. Blame it on the game’s frenzied pace that will have you squeeze the device, pressing the touchscreen hard without even realizing it.

You need to relax and move your thumbs lightly across the pads. However, maintaining your composure is easier said than done because pesky little creatures are constantly breaking your concentration, coming in wave after wave after wave.

Three types of furries

Furries come in three sizes: The small Minifurry, the Furry, and the lamentable Giant Furry. Decimating agile minifurries with your machine gun is pure fun

Blasting a Giant Furry splits the creature into several Furries. Blast Furries and they split into Minifurries. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that you’ll get yourself in trouble if you blast Giant Furries before clearing agile Minifurries first. A shotgun power-up will do more damage, as will an exploding booby trap.

When you kill a certain amount of furries, a four-leaf clover is left behind. Collect three clovers and you’ll temporarily turn into this agile, huge beast. Since you remain the beast only for a short while before transforming back to normal, run around and eat as much furries as you can.

I have no doubt in my mind that the environment design, jaw-dropping graphics, and distinct visual language will impress you. The world is rendered in isometric 3D perspective and scrolls in all directions, with bushes, trees, and props skewing slightly in 3D as they come in and out of the view. Of course, these objects are not just eye candy – you can use them to slow down furries or catch a few moments of break.

The Beast mode literally puts you on fire. Eat and run over everything you can in the Beast mode before transforming back to normal.

Conclusion: Much more than a dumb shootout

While Minigore is in fact the survival shooter in the purest sense, its clever design elevates the game high above a dumb shootout contest, testing both your arcade skill and concentration. In fact, I’ve found Minigore to be great way to kill a few minutes of my time.

Chillingo and Mountain Sheep have originally targeted Minigore for early June but the development process stretched a bit longer. Mountain Sheep is finalizing the game so you should expect it sometime this month. In my opinion, it’ll be worth the wait, especially at just 99 cents.

I should also mention the existence of the flip screen option accessible via the settings menu. This awesome little touch flips the graphics around the vertical axis so that the device’s earphone cord and plug don’t come in the way of the left-hand control. If you ask me, Apple should require developers to support the flip screen mode in every landscape app.

The developer confirmed that regular free updates will deliver “more wacky stuff and silly enemies,” including “the mysterious mushroom,” bosses like the Wormwolf, and co-operative multiplayer that will leverage the iPhone OS 3.0’s peer-to-peer networking over Bluetooth.